Family, friends highlight 4A, 3A girls basketball finals

Kenny Battle, now as assistant coach for the Angels, was a captain on the 1988-89 Flyin' Illini Final Four squad. Before that he led West Aurora to a third-place finish in the 1984 Class AA boys tournament.

Ty Battle started Saturday's Class 3A title game loss to Montini but failed to score. Still, her team's second-place finish gave her some bragging rights.

"I guess I got him (in that area)," Ty Battle said.

Coming back next year? Burlington Central snared the first girls basketball state trophy in school history by finishing fourth in Class 3A. The Rockets lost 64-40 to Quincy Notre Dame in the third-place game Saturday.

Sophomore forward Sam Pryor scored 10 points and Kayla Ross added nine. The Rockets will lose one senior, reserve guard Kathleen Ratzek. Pryor said the Rockets took another step in the program's development after reaching a supersectional in 2013.

"I came into this just happy to be here (at state), just like our supersectional last year," Pryor said. "This year we went down there to the supersectional to win it. I feel next year we're going down here to win it."

Another Seberger: Four years ago, Morgan Seberger watched her sister, Alison Seberger, score 18 points in Montini's 64-53 victory against Hillcrest in the Class 3A state title game.

Alison Seberger is wrapping up her senior year at Illinois State.

"It's crazy just to be here and play on my sister's court," Morgan Seberger said. "It's bringing me to tears because it's so exciting to be here and playing … and shooting the ball like she does."

Familiar foes: Marian Catholic's Ashton Millender, Teniya Page, Dajhae Mullins and Mercedes Winfrey along with Young's Kiara Lewis, Madinah Muhammad and Khaalia Hillsman all played on the same AAU team in sixth and seventh grade. Page and Lewis go back even further, winning several championships together in grade school.

"There were seven or eight of us on same team for a long time," Lewis said. "We started on the Hurricanes together and now wind up here. Me and Teniya played way back. We had the one-two punch for our AAU team, and we went to grammar school together at Beasley."

Conflicted in stands: Former NBA player Aaron Williams had unique ties to both Class 4A state finalists.

The 6-foot-9 Williams played his final two high school seasons for Rolling Meadows. His daughter, Danyelle Willliams, is a 5-foot-11 freshman forward for Young.